The Fleece I Didn’t Know I Needed

Sometimes I have put down fleeces. I think God honors my efforts in the fleece if I put them down with a sincere heart, desiring to be in His will.

Sometimes He gives me the fleece I did not know I needed.

We have had a couple hard weeks here. Raising a teenage boy is a daunting practice at best. My oldest and I have been squabbling more lately as he tests his wings and boundaries, trying to negotiate this journey to manhood without the benefit of his dad’s direction. I was a bit discouraged when I arrived at church. I sought the counsel of a couple male friends, but God was already working.

We have had a group of men visiting our church who have been in town for a few weeks for a training course. Being the perpetual greeter-of-all-who-enter at church, I met them the first week they arrived and struck up a conversation. Their first Sunday was the day the Giants played the Packers in the playoffs. I remember specifically because Alex was “representing” (huge Giants fan) and the guys had already scoped him out for ribbing (one of them was a huge Packers fan and wanted to”belt” him–victory dance thing–guys will get it). When they found out he was my son, they asked if they could tease him, and like any good mom I said, “Go right ahead!”

This began a relationship between my son and these men. Being the kid he is, he has gone over every week to talk to them, tease with them, gloat over the Giants victories (good year for that), and just check in.

On Sunday, not long after I had been commiserating about the hard week, the guys came in and told me they had brought new guys with them. I did not meet them then, but I did a few minutes later in the service. I was introduced to “B.” I shook hands with him and worked my way down the line of guys. When I got to the end of the line, one of the guys, Dan, asked me if I had met “B.” I told him I had. He asked me if I knew who he was. I said I did not. Much to my surprise, Dan said he was a former NFL center! Then Dan told me that they had made sure to get Alex over to meet “B.” Later I found out that “B” did not want his identity known, but did want to make sure that he met my son, and so these guys made sure that it happened. Without my involvement or prompting, they acted.

Cool story in that Alex got to shake the hand of a former NFL player! Even cooler that God has used these men, just here for a few weeks, to speak into my son’s life, to give him man stuff that I could not give him.

The fleece I did not ask for, but desperately needed!

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. — Luke 12:6-7